September 2015

Computer users know for quite some time that buying new PCs does not necessarily mean that the computer is clean, lean and ready for use immediately.

A security advisory posted on September 1 and revised on September 2 reveals that select Seagate wireless hard-drives are affected by multiple vulnerabilities including one that is taking advantage of hard-coded credentials.

The vulnerability in question exploits an undocument Telnet service that is running on the drives by using the default credentials "root" as the username and the default password.

The following guide provides you with information on how to modify time and language formats and settings in Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system.

One of the main usability issues of Windows 10 is that preferences are divided into two interfaces. While it was always the case that you could access some preferences and options only through backend tools like the Group Policy Editor or the Windows Registry, it was never an issue for most users as all basic configuration preferences were accessible in the Windows Control Panel.

Microsoft changed how file dialog boxes are spawned in Windows 8 and uses the same method in its new Windows 10 operating system. What you may notice is that dialogs may not spawn in the foreground.

While that may not be an issue if copy or move proceeds without issues, it quickly becomes a huge problem if user input is required during the process.

Microsoft Edge is a slimmed down browser that is still in development. Microsoft has big plans for Edge, extension support is one of the main goals for instance which should give the browser a big boost in popularity.

The problem with being bare bones is that it lacks customization options currently. While those may be integrated in Edge at a later time, it is less customizable than any other browser currently including Google Chrome.

When it comes to privacy, there are but a few settings that Microsoft has integrated in Edge that you can customize.

If you are running a recent version of the Google Chrome web browser and a blocker extension such as uBlock to block advertisement and other undesirable elements on websites, you may have noticed that the blocking did not work as thoroughly as before.

While contents and resources are still blocked on many sites, you may have noticed that this is not the case on all anymore.

YouTube or Spotify for instance seem to fall into the category as ads may not get blocked on those sites anymore in the Chrome browser.

VentureBeat reported yesterday that Microsoft was displaying recommendations on Bing when users use Microsoft Edge to search for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on the search engine the first time on the company's new Windows 10 operating system.

The recommendation is displayed on top of the results stating that "Microsoft recommends Microsoft Edge for Windows 10".

How much online storage space do you need, and what do you need it for? If the answer to the first question is "as much as possible" and you don't mind hosting your data in China, then you may want to check out the current offer of Chinese online storage provider Weiyun.

Microsoft removed the classic personalization panel of previous versions of Windows and added some of the options to the Settings application instead.

While you can right-click on the desktop on Windows 10 to launch the personalization options just like before, you will notice quickly that they are not on-pair with what was offered previously.

For instance, the new app lacks options to set a screensaver or pick a custom accent color.

Firefox development relies largely on Bugzilla, a bug tracking application that Mozilla developers use to keep track of the development of features and changes in the Firefox web browser.

Most bug listings are accessible by the public, an account is not needed for read access. Only security-sensitive information are not accessible publicly as criminals could use them to create exploits and target Firefox users before patches hit the browser.